Chelsea land Villa semi, Pompey wait

07 March 2010 06:18

The game will be a rematch of the 2000 final, the last to be played at the old Wembley, which the Blues won 1-0.

Portsmouth, the 2008 winners, have a trip to the national stadium to look forward to after they eliminated Birmingham at Fratton Park on Saturday. They will face either Fulham or Tottenham in the semis, which will be played at Wembley on April 10 and 11.

Chelsea beat Everton to win the 2009 FA Cup and their 2-0 win over Stoke at Stamford Bridge on Sunday took them through to a 19th last four appearance in this competition.

Villa will be making their second trip to Wembley of the season, having lost there to Manchester United in the Carling Cup final last weekend.

Chelsea assistant boss Ray Wilkins said: "When you get to this stage of the competition the opposition is always going to be tough, and Aston Villa will be a tough game for us.

"They beat us earlier on (in the season) at Villa Park but that was quite a while ago. The problems they gave us were from set plays but today we must commend our guys on how they dealt with that situation against a very strong Stoke side."

Martin O'Neill's men trailed 2-0 at Reading before a hat-trick from Norwegian striker John Carew helped them claim a 4-2 victory at the Madejski Stadium.

O'Neill was bullish after hearing his side had been paired with the tournament favourites in the last four.

He said: "We are delighted to be in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and we will take on anybody.

"Chelsea are one of the best sides in Europe but we will take them on.

"And we certainly don't fear them."

Portsmouth's financial problems are well documented but the club's fans at least have something to look forward to on the field.

Their 2-0 win over Birmingham, thanks to a brace from Frederic Piquionne, booked their place in the last four.

Fulham and Tottenham drew 0-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday and will meet again in a replay at White Hart Lane later this month for the right to face Pompey.